Children’s book illustration trends: 2025 Bologna Book Fair

On April 1–3, 2025, Italy hosted the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, an important annual international event dedicated to publishing for children and young adults. As usual, on these days the Bologna exhibition center turns into a place featuring the finest books for young readers from across the globe, offering a glimpse into the current direction of children’s literature and illustration. We explored the visual trends seen in Bologna in recent years, which can, to some extent, be considered reflective of broader tendencies in children’s illustration as a whole.

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is the most significant global event in the field of children’s literature and illustration. Each year it hosts the Illustrators Exhibition, a prestigious platform that discovers new names, shapes visual trends, and sets the direction for the development of book graphics.

If the Bologna Book Fair is a grand celebration of stories where everyone can discover something they enjoy, then the Illustrators Exhibition is a refined tasting menu, showcasing the most intriguing visual styles and creative experiments.

Exploring the works showcased in Bologna, we can identify the key trends shaping contemporary illustration: the way artists expand the limits of form, question traditional conventions, and use visual language to engage with cultural and social transformations.

Somewhere between naïve and digital

One of the most prominent stylistic trends in contemporary illustration is a naïve style using simple colors and a relaxed, “childlike” manner. Using this technique, the authors abandon the careful drawing of details in favor of rough strokes, lines with a felt-tip pen or pencil. It may seem like a child’s drawing, but this approach makes the images emotional, honest, and natural.

A great example of this trend is the work of Andrea Antinori, the 2023 winner of the 13th International Award for Illustration at the Bologna Book Fair. Antinori’s illustrations are based on simple shapes, minimalist colors, and light lines, yet they are full of expression. This reflects the desire of contemporary illustrators to be honest in depicting the world, where it is not perfect forms that matter, but lively, emotional transmission of content.

Doroshenko Polin (Ukraine, 2022)

One more stylistic approach lies in the fusion of traditional and digital techniques, resulting in rich and layered textures. Artists draw from classic methods such as engraving, linocut, watercolor, and pencil, with a strong emphasis on the aesthetics of hand-drawn imagery. There’s a deliberate move away from the overly polished image of digital art. Rather than relying on intense, saturated hues, illustrators tend to favor restrained yet expressive color palettes. A particularly striking trend is the use of grayscale tones contrasted with carefully chosen accents of bright colors — yellow or blue — for maximum visual effect.

Emphasizing negative space and minimalism

Some artists use negative (empty) space to engage the reader in interaction and interpretation. South Korean picture book author and illustrator Park Hyun-min creates his works in a way that they are characterized by a unique visual style that skillfully uses empty space, provoking us to fill in the gaps in our imagination.

Park believes that the direction of the gaze is a key factor in shaping our perception of empty spaces. To create depth, Park guides the viewer’s gaze, adjusts the image’s scale, and experiments with unusual angles. In his illustration for the book “City Flight,” Park leads the reader to follow the gaze of a dandelion, using both text and images.

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Geometry and abstraction

Strict geometric shapes, simplified silhouettes, and structured compositions are reminiscent of the approach of constructivism or modernist graphics. This style can be traced back to various years. Here we see a combination of a bright palette and saturated colors with effective contrasts. The shapes are clearly outlined, creating the feeling of a flat surface, somewhat similar to printed graphics or illustrations in the style of a retro poster.

Forouzesh Maral (Iran, 2025)

Diversity of cultural narratives

One of the key trends of the Bologna exhibition is the growing interest in local cultural traditions and folk art. Illustrators are turning to their cultural roots and origins, transforming them into a modern visual language. This trend is evident in several countries.

Iranian school of illustration

Iranian artists are known for the deep poeticism of their work arising from the use of symbolism and intricate decorative elements that resemble traditional miniatures. They often work with texture and detail, creating illustrations that appear handmade even with use of digital technology. Art director, painter, illustrator, photographer, and Tehran art University lecturer Younesi Majid Zakeri’s works (2023) combine folklore motifs, fine graphics, and modern design, which make the Iranian school visible on the global scale.

Younesi Majid Zakeri (Iran, 2023)

South Korea: A dialogue of traditions and modern style

Korean illustrators, in contrast, often balance minimalism with decorativeness. They experiment with space and perspective while maintaining traditional coloring and visual symbols.

Kyoung Mi Ahn, Masked Nights (2024)

Cultural code in contemporary European illustration

The exhibition also shows how illustrators from various countries adapt folk art to contemporary works. For example, Catarina Sobral, Portuguese illustrator, animator, and graphic designer who was the 2014 laureate, creates illustrations inspired by folk ornaments using rich colors and geometry.

Catarina Sobral. Irrequieta, Madalena Perdigão (2024)

This trend demonstrates the desire of illustrators to find a balance between the traditional and the contemporary, at the same time preserving their own cultural uniqueness in a global context.

Nature and artist

Interaction between human and nature remains one of the main themes in contemporary illustration. Artists have always depicted the beauty of the natural environment, and it’s hard to call it a trend. It is rather an eternal theme, and in the modern context it is a reminder of its fragility.

A great example is the Mexican author and illustrator of picture books Azul López, who won the International Prize at the Bologna Book Fair in 2022. López’s works immerse the viewer in the natural world, making them rethink their place in it. López creates illustrations that seem to “breathe”: they possess soft color transitions and deep textures reminiscent of traditional painting techniques. 

In 2025, the sensitive dialogue with nature is still relevant. Among this year’s finalists, we find artists who use images of forest, water, and birds to tell stories of care, loss, and recovery.

Fittipaldi Maria Cecilia, Brazil

Ukrainian presence

Ukrainian illustrators have been participating in the Bologna Illustrators Exhibition for several years. In 2019, the works of Anna Sarvira and Olha Shtonda were selected among 76 artists from 27 countries. In 2022, two more illustrators from Ukraine, Polina Doroshenko and Hanna Ivanenko, were among the winners. The following year, in 2023, Ukrainian illustrator Yulia Tveritina was among the 80 selected illustrators. In 2024, the number of Ukrainian finalists increased, with eight names on the list: Oksana Domashych, Polina Doroshenko, Oksana Drachkovska, Olha Lisowska, Grasya Oliyko, Mariia Pleshakova, Anastasiia Khyzhniak, and Olha Shtonda. Two of them won: Polina Doroshenko and Oksana Domashych.

The works of Ukrainian illustrators are distinguished by a combination of expressive graphics and deep imagery, while avoiding academic rigidness. Instead of a polished form, one can feel a sense of spontaneity and emotional vulnerability, marked by lively, unrefined gestures. The authors work skillfully with contemporary European visual trends, but each of them has a recognizable style.

At the close of this year’s Bologna Book Fair, a landmark moment occurred for Ukrainian illustration: Ukrainian illustrator Maria Hayduk was awarded the prestigious Bologna Children’s Book Fair – Fundación SM International Award for Illustration, marking a true breakthrough for the country’s illustration scene.

Established in 2009, the award is given to illustrators under the age of 35 who have been selected for the Illustrators Exhibition. Its purpose is to support young talents in the field of book illustration. The winner receives a cash prize of 15,000 euros to create an original picture book, which will be published by the Spanish publishing house SM. The illustrations from this book will be showcased in a solo exhibition at the Bologna Book Fair the following year.

“The jury members were particularly impressed by the impact and potential of the artist’s work, which balances boldness with sensitivity,” reads Bologna Children’s Book Fair’s Facebook post.

The jury noted that, despite her young age, Maria has demonstrated “a mature and recognizable style in which light is a key narrative tool.” Her work combines social criticism and environmental sensitivity, questioning contemporary consumption patterns. Maria Hayduk is the youngest winner in the history of the award, and her success is further proof of the strength and relevance of the voices of young Ukrainian illustrators on the global stage.

Instead of a summary

At the Bologna exhibition you can see what modern illustration looks like. It is a space of bold decisions, multi-voiced styles, and openness to new topics. Bologna records these shifts every year. It’s a pleasure to see that Ukrainian artists are not only present in this movement, but also create its rhythm with their own perspectives, language, and emotional depth.

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Translation: Iryna Saviuk

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn